He played against us in the qualifiers IIRC

Rhinos fan in peace here.
But I see plenty on here do not rate Matty Russell and you guys know more about him than I do.
But whenever I have seen him play he has always looked reasonably good.
I won`t say a world beater by any stretch of the imagination.
But he doesn`t come across as half as bad as you guys make out when I`ve seen him.

Matty is a decent player, but his positioning and defensive play is expsoed when playing on the wing.

He was brought here as a full back. When he got clattered it affected him big time, seemed scared to go near a high ball. Ends up on the wing, as a good initial burst but not a length of field man and just became a scooter to spell the forwards.

At 1m 88cm he is certainly quite a bit taller than Matty Russell. I think Steve Price realises he has to fix the soft underbelly on our edges. Hopefully he wont be part of the sprint out of the defensive line brigade. Probably wont get out jumped to many time also.

He's got pace, really strong runner for his size, tough player but shocking under the high ball and poor defensively.

Mitch Brown is a good 'attacking player' more strength/agility than speed. His defence wasn't great for us (even in the championship). BUT unfortunately for Mitch, the next game for us, he could be playing full back, centre or wing. Wasn't really outstanding in either position, but was a 'very good' squad player for us, and hopefully will do well, in a STRONGER team (on paper)

Personally I think Russell will do well in a team doing well. Eden at Wire last year would have been an absolute shocker, but at Cas he looked great.

A winger often gets the blame for being out of position, when he's not always the one at fault initially - sometimes I think Russell got the blame for that.

Every winger in SL is expected to support the forwards, (and Russell is very good at it) - look at McGillvary, often takes the ball in at first receiver for Huddersfield and England. With a more solid defensive line on his inside, I think he would look a much better player. If I were to pick a winger to drop next year, it would be Lineham over Russel any time.

All our backs will look amazing if this pack fourfills it's promise.
I might have a punt of Matt top try scorer and to go along with Brown for MOS.
If Eden and Gale can do it...my Granny can.

For Matty Russell to be "Top Try Scorer" he will have to double what he has scored in his whole career & do it in 7 months what has taken him 7 years. My advice is to keep your money in your pocket.